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Wednesday, November 19, 2003

Nice update on ACC recruiting, but check out the article on Jeremis Smith. I'll take a little liberty and paste it here, but here is the link.

Tech's Giant-killer

One of Georgia Tech's newcomers is "little big man" Jeremis Smith, who stands 6-5, but plays much taller.

"He's probably the most dangerous inside player in Texas," said Bob Hughes, Smith's coach at Fort Worth Dunbar High School. "Jeremis chewed up Kendrick Perkins (the 6-10 Beaumont center who went straight from high school to the NBA this year) and he embarrassed the kid from Seagoville (No. 6 senior LaMarcus Aldridge, 6-11, who has signed with Texas).

"Jeremis is a guy who plays anywhere. He's a solid 230 pounds and very strong. He goes past taller players and over the shorter, quicker ones, creating big match-up problems. The best way to describe him is just to say he's a basketball player."

Smith averaged 21 points, 8.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists as a junior, leading Dunbar to a 37-1 record and the Texas 4-A championship plus a No. 7 national ranking by USA Today. He earned state tournament MVP honors by scoring 30 points in a 66-54 title game win over Beaumont Ozen and Perkins.

"He's an athlete," Hughes said. "He jumps well, handles the ball extremely well and, man, can he finish! He will probably be a small forward when he gets to Georgia Tech, but he plays so well in the paint that I don't know how much they're going to allow him to play out there."

Smith, ranked No. 114, visited Arizona and Oklahoma as well as Tech.

"He liked the whole scenario in Atlanta," Hughes said. "He feels good about the program, Coach (Paul) Hewitt's style of play and the kids they're signing this year.

"When people see Jeremis play in college, they're going to say, 'How did we miss him?' He's a lot better than his ranking."